Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 16, 1990 TAG: 9006160356
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE: ELLIE SCHAFFZIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The 80 ECPI graduates, who ranged in age from 19 to 45, were met with cheers from proud parents and children alike.
As Shaver was handed his diploma, his 15-month-old daughter, Amber, responded with a stifled "Yay" from behind her pacifier. Sons Justin, 7, and Travis, 3, said they hope to "work on computers" like their father when they grow up. Shaver's wife, Sandy, and mother, Louise, joined in the applause.
Shaver, 27, became a part-time student of computer technology at ECPI to "keep myself on track and have a future." Although the triple role of father/employee/student was tough to handle, Shaver was able to maintain a 93.5 average.
The private technical junior college offers computer-related classes of different lengths and at different times to accommodate its varied student body.
There were mothers among the graduates, as well. Geri Nelson, a mother of five, left a 20-year career in day care to become a medical computer specialist at ECPI. She is currently working as a medical secretary in Roanoke.
To both the employed and job-seeking graduates, speaker Wallace Allen, senior vice president of Dominion Bank, offered a formula for success.
"Successful people are ordinary people with extraordinary determination," he said.
Allen told the graduates that the world was neither all good nor all bad, talking about the ups and downs in education, the economy and the war on drugs. He said an optimist would say all is fine in the world, while a pessimist would think the world is coming to an end. Allen asked the students to be realists.
"Reality is saying yes, we have problems; yes, we have opportunities . . . and I'm prepared to take my place among these and make decisions for myself," he said.
Allen then told a story.
When he grew up on a farm, a woman who was eight months pregnant was attacked by a rooster.
Despite warnings from others, the woman chased the rooster in the summertime heat until the rooster collapsed.
She caught the rooster and killed it.
Luckily, her unborn child was not hurt, although as a young child, he did have the peculiar habit of chasing chickens.
Allen said this woman was an example of an "ordinary person with extraordinary determination," a quality he said would help the graduates make a difference.
With the right determination, Allen said, one person "can be a great many."
by CNB